diff --git a/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c b/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c
index 97259a23..1dfa6e8a 100644
--- a/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c
+++ b/src/libespeak-ng/compiledata.c
@@ -2050,13 +2050,12 @@ int CompilePhoneme(int compile_phoneme)
 				error("Missing 'endphoneme' before end-of-file"); // end of file
 				break;
 			}
+			if (phoneme_add_feature(phoneme_out, item_string, NULL) == ENS_OK)
+				continue;
 			error("Bad keyword in phoneme definition '%s'", item_string);
 			continue;
 		}
 
-		if (phoneme_add_feature(phoneme_out, item_string, NULL) == ENS_OK)
-			continue;
-
 		switch (item_type)
 		{
 		case tPHONEME_TYPE: